1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coin delivering apparatus for delivering coins, medals, tokens or the like (hereinafter generally referred to as "coins"), for use in a money exchanger, a dispenser, a game machine or the like. More specifically, the present invention relates to a coin delivering apparatus which is capable of collecting coins remaining in the coin delivering apparatus, particularly, in a hopper or am escalator incorporated in the coin delivering apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional coin delivering apparatuses of this type will be explained. FIGS. 3 and 4 are diagrams showing a coin delivering apparatus disclosed in Japanese First (unexamined) Patent Publication No. 61-281386. This coin delivering apparatus includes a hopper 101 defining a space for accommodating a plurality of coins, a cylindrical case 103 provided at a lower end of the hopper 101, an outlet hole 110 opened at a lower end portion of a circumferential wall of tile cylindrical case 103 at an upper side thereof, and an inclined base plate 102 forming a bottom of the cylindrical case 103. The coin delivering apparatus further includes a coin delivering disk 104 disposed on the base plate 102 and rotated by rotation of a motor shaft 107 of an electric motor 105 via a reduction gear unit 106, five coin guide holes 108 penetrating the coin delivering disk 104 for causing coins A to fall therethrough onto the base plate 102 and to be guided, and a coin delivering arm 109 which is provided between the base plate 102 and the coin delivering disk 104 so as to extend radially up to a circle defined by connecting substantially the centers of the coin guide holes 108. The coin delivering arm 109 is rotated due to rotation of the coin delivering disk 104 to slide the coin, which has fallen through the coin guide hole 108 onto the base plate 102, along a given rotational orbit on the base plate 102 so as to transfer it toward the outlet hole 110. The coin delivering apparatus further includes an outlet guide pin 130 which is arranged to abut the coin transferred by the coin delivering arm 109 so that the coin deviates from the rotational orbit and is guided to a side of the outlet hole 110. The coin delivering apparatus further includes an outlet guide member 111 arranged between the base plate 102 and the coin delivering disk 104 and at a downstream side of the outlet hole 110 for guiding the coin A, which has deviated from the rotational orbit due to the outlet guide pin 130, to the outlet hole 110.
A scraper (coin delivering impeller) 113 is further provided in the coin delivering apparatus. The scraper 113 has delivering vanes 112 arranged radially. The number of the vanes 112 is equal to the number (five) of the coin guide holes 108 of the coin delivering disk 104. The scraper 113 is rotated on the base plate 102 by means of the reduction gear unit 106 in synchronism with the coin delivering disk 104. The delivering vanes 112 scrape up and force out the coins, transferred by the outlet guide member 111 and the outlet guide pin 130, to the outside of the outlet hole 110 via an opening 110a of the outlet hole 110.
Further, in the coin delivering apparatus, an escalator 117 is fixedly and vertically arranged at an upper side of the base plate 102. Pairs of right and left guide rollers 119 are arranged in rows. The guide rollers 119 and the delivering vanes 112 of the scraper 113 cooperatively impel the coins toward an inlet 116 of the escalator 117 provided at a lower end of the escalator 117.
Each of the guide rollers 119 has a tapered surface facing downward, and the right and left guide rollers 119 in each pair are biased toward each other. The delivering vanes 112 of the scraper 113 scrape up the coins via the outlet hole 110 in cooperation with the outlet guide member 111 and force them into between the right and left paired guide rollers 119 in sequence. At this time, the coin is prevented from going upward due to the downward-facing tapered surfaces of the guide rollers 119 and advances toward the lower-end inlet 116 of the escalator 117.
Accordingly, in the conventional coin delivering apparatus, the coins forced out by the normal rotation of the coin delivering disk 104 caused by the normal rotation of the electric motor 105 are guided to the guide rollers 119 by means of the scraper 113 and then forced into the escalator 117 where the coins are pushed upward by the succeeding coins and thus advance upward arranged in a row.
However, there has been the following problem in the foregoing conventional coin delivering apparatus. Specifically, it is troublesome to take out the coins remaining in the coin delivering apparatus after finishing operations of the money exchanger, the dispenser and the like. More specifically, there has been a problem when collecting the coins remaining in the coin delivering means and the escalator incorporated in the coin delivering apparatus. For example, in order to take out the coins in the hopper, the coins in the hopper should be taken out directly by hand. Further, in order to take out the coins in the escalator, the escalator itself should be detached from the apparatus or a cover plate of the escalator should be detached. This requires much labor.
In order to solve the foregoing problem, several countermeasures have been proposed. A technique disclosed in Japanese First (unexamined) Patent Publication No. 6-114157 is one of them. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a structure of a coin delivering apparatus disclosed in this publication. This coin delivering apparatus is constituted by two main portions, i.e. a coin transfer unit (coin delivering means) 201 and a coin travel passage (escalator) 202.
In the coin delivering apparatus of FIG. 5, a discharging mechanism 212 is provided at a lower end of a first travel passage 202a. The discharging mechanism 212 opens a portion of the travel passage 202 for causing the coins C remaining in the travel passage 202 to fall and to be discharged outside the travel passage 202 while the delivery of the coins C from the coin transfer unit 201 is stopped. The discharging mechanism 212 is structured such that a lower end portion 213 of one circumferential guide member 210 forming the first travel passage 202a is supported so as to be pivotal about a longitudinal axis X, and a thumbscrew is provided to screw this pivotal guide member 213 to a side of a plate guide member 211. Accordingly, when the thumbscrew is relaxed, the coins C remaining in the travel passage 202 forcibly cause, due to their own weight, the pivotal guide member 213 to make a pivotal motion so that a lower end of the first travel passage 202a is opened. Thus, all the coins C remaining in the travel passage 202 fall, by their own weight, into a collecting receptacle 215 arranged by the coin transfer unit 201, guided along an upper surface of a delivery guide member 209.
In the coin delivering apparatus of FIG. 5, speed regulating means 217 is provided for preventing the coins C from falling at a stretch. The speed regulating means 217 includes upper and lower advance/retreat members 220 and 221, which are arranged at an interval substantially equal to a diameter of the coin C. The members 220 and 221 are driven by solenoids 219, respectively, so as to individually project into the first travel passage 202a in a diametrical direction of the coin for preventing the remaining coins C from falling all at once. Before allowing the remaining coins C to fall and to be discharged via the discharging mechanism 212, these upper and lower advance/retreat members 220 and 221 are set to project into the first travel passage 202a so as to once hold the coins C remaining above the lower advance/retreat member 221. After allowing the coins C remaining below the lower advance/retreat member 221 to fall and to be discharged outside the travel passage 202 via the discharging mechanism 212, the coins C are caused to fall one by one by alternately advancing/retreating the upper and lower advance/retreat members 220 and 221. Accordingly, an upper limit of a speed of the coin C falling along the travel passage 202 can be regulated to prevent failure in operation of a photo-sensor 216 so that the number of the coins C fallen and discharged into the collecting receptacle 215 via the discharging mechanism 212 can be accurately counted.
However, in the coin delivering apparatus of the latter publication, it is still possible that the coins in the escalator accidentally fall at a stretch when the discharging mechanism 212 is opened, and thus the collected coins are scattered outside the collecting receptacle 215. Further, since it is necessary to provide an additional unit, such as, the foregoing speed regulating means, the mechanism becomes complicated and a manufacturing cost of the apparatus is increased.